Rep. Blackburn Introduces Bill to Preempt FCC Internet Takeover

Representative Marsha Blackburn (R, TN) has introduced a bill to preempt the December power grab by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and she has made the bill bipartisan with the support of Democrat Dan Boren (Oklahoma).

Blackburn’s bill would place all rules governing the Internet in the purview of Congress and would take the issue out of the hands of the FCC. She is reporting that 60 members support her bill to halt the FCCs efforts to take control of the Internet without legislative action.

“The FCC’s Christmas week Internet-grab points out how important it is that we pass this bill quickly,” Blackburn said in a statement to the media.

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“What we will do is first use this as a way to show how we’re going to keep that Pledge to America,” she said yesterday at The Heritage Foundation. “We said in the Pledge that any rule or regulation that had more than $100 million impact on our nation’s economy would be subject to review. … This is an area where we can keep that Pledge. We can go ahead and start congressional review and move forward on getting this off the books.”

This issue is not one of just Internet regulations but is one more example of Obama’s tendency to use regulation to get around the legislative process, to get around the courts, and to get around the voters in order to instill his left-wing agenda by regulatory fiat.

Obama has already used the regulatory framework of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to implement numerous regulations favorable to Big Labor. Obama has staffed the NLRB with union hacks like Craig Becker and Hilda Solis, both long-time union operatives. Obama has also used the EPA to move his carbon and global warming policies forward despite opposition by Congress and the voters.

Blackburn should be supported in her efforts to thwart Obama’s cynical power grab. We need to shine a light on Obama’s fiat regulatory rules like this one, rules that he is using to push his agenda now that the voters have turned out his overwhelming majority in Congress.